A president serves as the government's chief administrative officer, with the responsibility to see that the laws are faithfully executed. He also appoints officials, with the advice and consent of the Senate.

The chief executive heads an enormous bureaucracy that became more complex
as the federal system grew and increased its functions. Through
the cabinet and federal agencies, the president has the power to
influence virtually every activity of the national government.

President James K. Polk used this ivory-handled letter seal in
the White House. The size and role of the federal government was
so small in the mid-19th century that during the hot Washington summers
Polk let his cabinet secretaries return home while he ran their departments.
He personally answered the mail, filled out forms, signed commissions,
and issued purchase orders.

President Thomas Jefferson's polygraph, made by Hawkins and
Peale. Patented by John Isaac Hawkins in 1803, a polygraph's pens
create simultaneous copies of a writer's manuscript. Jefferson acquired
his first polygraph in 1804 and suggested improvements to Charles
Willson Peale, owner of the American rights.

Jefferson owned several polygraphs, and replaced them as improvements were incorporated into the design. A prolific letter writer, he called the polygraph "the finest invention of the present age."

Lent by Franklin Institute

This engraving of Abraham Lincoln's 1862 cabinet, by Alexander
Haye Ritchie, was taken from a painting by Francis Bicknell Carpenter.